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[Population dynamics and infestation of Bulinus truncatus and Bulinus forskalii by schistosomal larvae in the Sudan-Sahelian zone of Cameroon].

The evolution of the population densities of Bulinus truncatus and Bulinus forskalii has been studied during 18 months in a number of sites of the Sudan-Sahelian zone of Cameroon, in relation to certain environmental factors. Only the altitude of the water in the sites has an influence on the density of the snails. The populations of B. truncatus present a greater proportion of young molluscs during the entire year, with the exception of the last months of the dry season. The population dynamics of B. forskalii varies depending on whether the environment is temporarily stagnant, temporarily running or stable. The proportions of B. truncatus and B. forskalii that emit cercariae of schistosomes are 1.2% and 0.8% respectively. Study of the adult worms obtained after infestation of the laboratory mammals show that B. truncatus emits cercariae of Schistosoma haematobium at the end of the dry season and at the beginning of the rainy season. We have not been able to identify precisely the cercariae emitted by B. forskalii, which raises the necessity of further systematic studies being carried out on the schistosomes of Cameroon.

Animals

On Schistosoma margrebowiei Le Roux, 1933: the morphology of the egg, miracidium and cercaria, the compatibility with species of Bulinus, and development in Mesocricetus auratus.

The morphology of the egg, miracidium, and cercaria of Schistosoma margrebowiei are described. The compatibility of S. margrebowiei with species of Bulinus has been examined. The parasite develops well in the diploid, tetraploid and octoploid snails of the truncatus/tropicus complex with overall infection rates of 38.1%, 30.1% and 29.1% respectively, and in reticulatus group snails (Bulinus wrighti) with an infection rate of 45.8% of those snails surviving the prepatent period. Only two species of the forskali complex (Bulinus bavayi, Aldabra; Bulinus beccarii, South Arabia) are slightly compatible, and snails of the africanus group are incompatible. The overall worm return from 24 hamsters exposed individually to 100 cercariae was 39.8%; 82.1% of the worms were paired, the remainder unpaired. The growth of the paired worms was recorded from 28-60 days. The prepatent period in hamsters in 33 days, in sheep 38 days. The mean egg production was 837 eggs/day in infections ranging from 33 to 60 days. Most eggs (80.9%) were deposited in the intestine, and only 18.2% were deposited in the liver. The parasite is pathogenic in hamsters, and peak death rate occurred in the 50-60 day group infections which coincided with the period of peak egg production.

Animals

[Cercaria ogunis n. sp. (echinostomatidae) from Bulinus globosus in West Africa (author's transl)].

Cercaria ogunis n. sp. (Echinostomatidae) is described. The cercaria has 47 collar spines, 2 X 15 flame cells, a small dorsal and a small ventral finfold near the tip of the tail. A peculiar organ located dorsally next to the brain is explained, hypothetically, as a statocyst. In the behaviour of the cercaria there are some conspicuous features, i.e. a rapid swimming-velocity, a striking positive geotaxis and a positive phototaxis. Second intermediate hosts are gastropods and amphibians. The metacercarial cysts exist in two distinct modifications: Cysts from Bulinus are globular, cysts from amphibians are elongated-ellipsoid. The Bulinus population of the habitat shows at the same time a high prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium. C. ogunis has never been observed as being involved in double infections. This seems to suggest that the rediae of this species are incompatible with other trematodes in the snail.

Africa, Western

Influence of diet on breeding and infectivity in mass cultivation of Bulinus truncatus.

Under well defined laboratory conditions as troughs, room temperature, humidity, water, and air supply Bulinus truncatus was bred and kept. In a feeding trial high protein diet consisting of powdered mice pellets, commercial tropical fish food and lettuce was compared to poor protein diet of lettuce alone. Higher yield of clutches, eggs and cercariae were observed in the rich protein diet group, Bulinus and Biomphalaria Snail seem to be influenced by diet in the same way.

Animals

Neurosecretion in the basommatophoran snail Bulinus truncatus (Gastropoda, Pulmonata).

The neurosecretory system of the freshwater snail Bulinus truncatus was investigated. With the Alcian blue-Alcian yellow (AB/AY) staining method at least 10 different types of neurosecretory cells (NSC) were distinguished in the ganglia of the central nervous system. The differences in staining properties of the NSC - with AB/AY the cells take on different shades of green and yellow - are borne out at the ultrastructural level: the NSC types contain different types of neurosecretory elementary granules. The neurosecretory system of B. truncatus is compared to that of Lymnaea stagnalis, the species which has received the most attention among the pulmonates. It appears from the comparison that the systems of both species show many similarities, although some differences are also apparent.

Alcian Blue

Enzyme analyses of Bulinus africanus group snails (Mollusca: Planorbidae) from Tanzania.

38 population samples of snails of the Bulinus africanus group, collected from three separate areas of Tanzania, have been examined. Enzymes in crude digestive gland extracts of individual snails have been analysed by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels. The enzymes studied were: malate dehydrogenase (MDH); phosphoglucomutase (PGM); glucosephosphate isomerase (GPI); acid phosphatase (AcP) and hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBDH). Samples of B. nasutus were clearly differentiated from other species and enzyme differences were apparent between samples from the lake and coastal areas. Similarly, although clear distinctions could not always be made, samples of B. africanus, B. globosus and B. ugandae were characterized by their enzyme types. Individual variation was detected within populations and the significance of enzyme polymorphisms in relation to identification has been considered. No correlation was found between snail enzyme type and susceptibility to Schistosoma haematobium or S. bovis.

Acid Phosphatase

Studies of the relationships between Schistosoma and their intermediate hosts. II. The genus Bulinus and Schistosoma haematobium from Sudan, Zaire and Zambia.

The relationship between Schistosoma haematobium from Sudan, Zaire and Zambia and various species and strains of Bulinus, has been investigated. The main emphasis was placed on evaluating the total cercarial production per 100 exposed snails as an index of the compatibility between snail and schistosome. The observations confirmed the results of previous compatibility studies which showed that there were two groups of S. haematobium, truncatus-borne from Sudan and Zaire, and africanus-borne, from Zambia. They also revealed that this division was not absolute, as some overlapping occurred. However, if the cercarial production was taken as an indication of compatibility, instead of the infection rate, there was a more definite division between the two groups. The observation that there is a truncatus-borne strain of S. haematobium present in Zaire extends the area where there is a mixture of truncatus- and africanus-borne strains farther southwards.

Adult

Studies of the relationships between Schistosoma and their intermediate hosts. IV. The genus Bulinus and Schistosoma bovis from Morocco.

Schistosoma bovis from Morocco was used in infection experiments with several populations of Bulinus truncatus. The snails from Libya, Malawi, Morocco and Senegal were very compatible with the schistosome since the infection rates were approximately 90%, the mortality was low, and a very high production of cercariae, approximately 1.2 million per 100 exposed snails, was observed. Only a very few B. truncatus (2n = 36) from Rhodesia became infected. B. permembranaceus and B. forskalii were refractory.

Animals

Parasites in Bulinus senegalensis (Mollusca: Planorbidae) and their detection.

Isoelectric focusing studies on enzyme variation between populations of the snail Bulinus senegalensis revealed that parasitic infections in the snails contributed additional bands of enzyme activity, particularly in the glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) systems. The patterns due to the parasite enzymes were, in most cases, clearly distinct from those of the host and different from each other. Parasites encountered included Schistosoma haematobium, S. bovis, Paramphistomum microbothrium, another amphistome probably belonging to the group which infect amphibians, Echinostoma revolutum, another echinostome (probably Echinoparyphium sp.), strigeids, xiphidiocercariae (these were resolved into 3 distinct types by the enzyme data) and ciliate protozoa. The 7 host populations which were examined showed marked differences in both the prevalence and variety of their parasitic infections and these variations were tentatively related to environmental differences in their respective habitats and to the nature of human contact patterns. Seasonal changes in the parasite fauna were also noted and some of the implications of the parasite load on the host population are briefly mentioned.

Animals

Techniques for estimating densities of Bulinus truncatus rohlfsi and its horizontal distribution in Volta Lake, Ghana.

Bulinus truncatus rohlfsi is the intermediate host of urinary schistosomiasis, which is highly endemic in the man-made Volta Lake. In 1971, a WHO/UNDP schistosomiasis project was established in the Pawmpawm branch and part of the Afram branch of Volta Lake. Malacological findings of the preliminary phase indicated that the snails were distributed in the littoral zone of the lake, and that this distribution was correlated with the presence of vegetation, especially Ceratophyllum. Transmission nearly always occurred in "water contact sites", i.e., places where people come into contact with water.A snail-sampling technique with palm-leaf mats was developed and standardized after it had been shown in sensitivity trials to compare favourably with a modified version of the "man-time" sampling method, in which the number of snails collected per man-hour is recorded. It is recommended that both these methods should be used to conduct ecological studies of B. rohlfsi in water contact sites.

Animals

Ecological studies of Bulinus rohlfsi, the intermediate host of Schistosoma haematobium in the Volta Lake.

In the present ecological study of cercarial transmission of Schistosoma haematobium in the Volta Lake, Ghana, habitat observations and sampling of Bulinus truncatus rohlfsi were conducted within a 60-km stretch of shoreline. Observations revealed that human water contact sites in each village undergo constant changes in shape and vegetation. Snail sampling surveys in water contact sites were carried out monthly (for 27 months) in 8 villages using newly designed palm-leaf traps, and in 8 additional villages (for 16 months) using a modification of Olivier & Sneidermann's man-time method. Results to date confirm the finding by Chu & Vanderburg that cercarial transmission in the lake takes place almost exclusively within water contact sites. Additional results indicate that even within individual water contact sites this transmission is focal, most infected snails being found very close to the shoreline. Transmission also varies significantly according to shape, vegetation, and geographical location of the water contact sites, and is distinctly seasonal in most villages. These findings lead us to conclude that control of cercarial transmission in the Volta Lake is both attainable and feasible with existing methods.

Animals

Oxygen consumption and the use of metabolic reserves during starvation and aestivation in Bulinus (Physopsis) africanus (Pulmonata: Planorbidae).

Aestivating Bulinus (Physopsis) africanus (Krauss) snails are shown to have a lower oxygen consumption rate than those starving in water. This lowered oxygen uptake may possibly be brought about by change to a different metabolic pathway, since the slope of the log rate/temperature regression for oxygen consumption by aestivating snails is significantly different from those for fed and starving individuals. Starving snails use metabolic reserves in the form of protein, carbohydrate and lipid more rapidly than do aestivating snails, and this economy is commensurate, at least over a period of 21 days, with the reduction in oxygen consumption which characterises aestivation. The ability to effect this change upon being removed from water, although linked to the ability to survive exposure, high temperatures and starvation, is not shared by all individuals in the population studied. This can account for reported variations, both within and between populations of planorbid species, in their ability to survive out of water.

Adaptation, Physiological

The influence of stream geology on the distribution of the bilharzia host snails, Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Bulinus (physopsis) sp.

The Gladdespruit and Komati River surveys have shown that similar environmental conditions have developed where the watercourses flowed over particular rock types. In these watercourses a potentially useful association was found between the occurrence of permanent, lentic habitats produced by the weathering of bedrock with a hardness above 5 in Mohs' Scale of Hardness and the longitudinal distribution of persistent populations of the bilharzia intermediate host snails Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Bulinus (Physopsis) sp. Bilharzia transmission follows this pattern in these waterways. Weathering of bedrock with hardness below 5 in Mohs' scale, and/or flow over beds of alluvial sand, produced perpetually lotic (flowing) environments without persistent host snail populations because of the snail's inability to tolerate high current speeds. However a few temporary populations survived in temporarily lentic habitats during the dry winter season.

Africa

Further studies on the compatibility between s. intercalatum from cameroun and zaïre and species of bulinus.

The results from the infection experiments with Schistosoma intercalatum from Cameroun and from Zaïre and the intermediate hosts, belonging to B. forskalii and B. globosus, could be divided into groups according to the degree of compatibility with the schistosomes. This was indicated by the total cercariae production per 100 exposed snails (TCP/100 exp. snails). B. forskalii from Kinshasa, Zaïre were the snails which were most compatible with S. intercalatum from Cameroun, and B. globosus populations tested were refractory. The TCP/100 exposed snails was about 300,000 for the populations of B. forskalii from Kinshasa compared with the low production for B. forskalii from Cameroun of 125,000. B. wrighti from South Arabia produced 155,000 cercariae per 100 exposed snails. B. cernicus from Mauritius could be separated into two types according to the compatibility with S. intercalatum from Cameroun, the TCP/100 exposed snails was 31,000 and 267,000, respectively. B. globosus from Kinshasa, Zaïre, was very compatible with S. intercalatum from Zaïre and the TCP/100 exposed snails was very high, and 300,000. An albino strain of B. globosus from Rhodesia was the most compatible snail having a TCP/100 exposed snails of 2.4 million cercariae. Other strains of B. globosus from Cameroun and Togo were refractory and less susceptible. It was also possible to infect B. africanus and the two tested populations from Kenya and Tanzania, producing 15,000 and 179,000 cercariae per 100 exposed snails, respectively.

Africa